THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Halloween had created a bizarre legacy after the original film’s success in 1978: Having multiple sequels that retcon each other, a two part remake and an anthology spin-off that didn’t pick up any steam. Looking over this, it’s obvious when I say that this horror classic deserved a follow up that would be it’s true equivalent. It took a while for that to happen, but it did deliver and then some.
PLOT
The 2018 sequel of the same name retcons every follow up before it and takes place exactly 40 years after an adult Michael Myers broke out of Smith’s Grove Sanitarium to murder more innocent lives in Haddonfield, Illinois. Despite being shot down by his former psychiatrist Samuel Loomis, he survived his wounds and got apprehended, resulting in him being returned to Smith's Grove. Now, Myers has been dormant ever since that night and is scheduled to transfer to a maximum security prison. Before that ever happens, true crime podcasters Aaron Korey and Dana Haines visit him, hoping to understand his actions. His current psychiatrist Ranbir Sartain, who's been under his care after the passing of Loomis, has been only able to share that he can and chooses not to. Aaron tries to convince him to speak by showing off the pale white mask he wore. The only thing that happens was that other mental patients get triggered of it. They then move on to interview Laurie Strode, the woman who survived Myers' attack, thanks to being rescued by Loomis. She never recovered from that night as her results of PTSD affected two different marriages and her relationship with her daughter Karen. It has been so estranged with Karen that she intentionally tries to disconnect her from her granddaughter Allyson. Laurie only agrees to do the interview when Dana bribes her with $3000. It abruptly ends when they suggest of her to see him before the transfer. Allyson actually wants to connect with her grandmother, but like her mother, she doesn't understand her trauma like she wants to. Laurie does give her the $3000 when meeting her during school. But during this conversation, Allyson suggests seeing Michael so that they can have a better chance of a relationship. She does see him board the bus at night, but contemplated on killing him. This results in her breaking down and crashing a dinner date Allyson had with her parents and her boyfriend Cameron Elam (Dylan Arnold). Afterwards, Karen chooses to share with her her past before Social Services took her away: Laurie spent that time training her to prepare for Michael. Learning how to fight, shoot guns and build a basement bunker. At the same time, Michael's bus crashed and a boy named Kevin/Lumpy (Vince Mattis) who passes by with his unnamed father (Brien Gregorie), notice after coming back from a fishing trip. They both get killed by The Shape himself, resulting in him taking their vehicle. Officer Frank Hawkins, the one who apprehended Myers in ‘78, reports to the scene and discovers that while most patients are scattered throughout Illinois, Sartain is injured. He accidentally got shot by the boy when he scouted the bus, startled when he saw him. Hawkins then draws worry when discovering that Myers was boarded on that bus and has escaped. He shares this to Sheriff Barker (Omar Dorsey) and implies that the town should be alerted that he is in the area, but the latter chooses not to. Aaron and Dana do visit the grave of Judith Myers, Michael's sister who was his first victim when he was a child. Afterwards, they get killed by the Boogeyman himself at a gas station. After he kills a mechanic and steals his clothes, he takes Aaron's car and dons his mask once again. When Laurie finds out about the bus crash, she alerts Karen and her husband Ray Nelson (Toby Huss), but they choose not to listen. By night, Michael has already returned to Haddonfield and kills two people: One woman with a hammer and another with a knife. Allyson goes to a school dance with Cameron, but he makes the mistake of kissing another girl. He tries to talk his way out of it, but he makes it worse when throwing her phone in a bowl of nacho cheese. This is bad because Laurie is calling her, trying to warn her of Michael. A deleted scene shows Cameron get arrested by officers for underage drinking after returning Allyson’s now damaged phone to her. This would lead to his friend Oscar (Drew Scheid) walking her home. Michael continues his murder spree by murdering Allyson's friend Vicky and her boyfriend Dave (Miles Robbins). Frank and Laurie separately report to a domestic disturbance in the area. Frank gets there first and finds the dead bodies. When Laurie gets there, she spots The Boogeyman in the house. She shoots at him and grazes his left arm, but he gets away. As Oscar walks Allyson home, he makes the mistake of trying to kiss her, which makes her uncomfortable. She moves along on her own after this incident. Shortly after this, Michael kills Oscar and when she sees him, she takes shelter at a neighbor's house until Hawkins and Sartain pick her up. The plan is to take her to Laurie's home to be safe, but that gets delayed when Michael is spotted and Hawkins decides to run him over. His chance to finish him off is ruined when Sartain stabs him, revealing him to be the one to start the bus crash. She puts Michael in the backseat with Allyson and leaves Hawkins for dead after running him over, hoping to reunite the Boogeyman with Laurie. As he exposits his obsession of him, Allyson tries to convince him to let her go by saying he spoke to her. He does pull over but before she could say a random word, The Shape gets up and breaks through the security barrier, forcing Sartain out of the vehicle. When he kills him by smashing his head, along with two more officers nearby, this gives Allyson a chance to run away. He then reaches Laurie's house before her granddaughter and he is quickly able to kill Ray outside. He tries to break the front door and attack Laurie, but she defends herself by shooting at his left hand, which shoots off two fingers in the process. She does briefly hide with Karen, but she chooses to pursue him when hearing the front door get taken down. They fight at one bedroom upstairs and he throws her off the balcony after stabbing her in the stomach. Allyson does eventually reach the house but when Michael hears her come in, this gives Laurie the chance to hide and temporarily recover. The Boogeyman figures out where she and Karen are hiding. He destroys their entrance to the basement bunker, but Karen is able to shoot him in the jaw. This gives Laurie the chance to get the jump on him by stabbing him from behind and smack him with a pot. He falls into the bunker and although he tries to grab Karen, Allyson saves her mother stabbing his shoulder and cutting his hand, pushing him down again. They block his way out by flipping a switch that springs metal bars into place. Laurie would then start a fire in the house to burn him alive. The film ends with the women hitching a ride and heading to the hospital.
THOUGHTS
I got around seeing this film in mid November of the year this one first came to theaters. My expectations were mixed because while the nostalgic feeling was high, the hopes of having a solid entry was low. After watching it, I can admit that it was far from solid, but awesome instead. Producer Jason Blum, Director David Gordon Green and co writers Danny McBride & Jeff Fradley succeed in finally giving fans and viewers a superior sequel that was deserved. This one works out because it regains John Carpenter’s original spirit of intensity. The first film gave us the experience of a home invader, but this one shows us that bad things can’t always go away so easily. It was great that Carpenter still had involvement as composer, alongside his son Cody and fellow collaborator Daniel Davies. Together, the revitalize the original score and re introduce the self aware feeling that a happy ending ain’t gonna happen immediately. I also got to give a shoutout to Michael Simmonds whose cinematography was extremely fascinating, especially whenever the focus was on Michael. Speaking of which, we’re still here because of the star slasher himself. This is the same man we saw 40 years prior, but minus the alternate history we’ve known along the way. Not knowing why he is doing this and maintaining him to be unpredictable is what makes him scary to this day. If he has a reason, it humanizes him and we’re not supposed to feel that way for someone who kills innocent people. While Nick Castle has a cameo in the mirror scene, James Jude Courtney steps in and succeeds in keeping Myers as the brute force we’ve always known him to be. We never get a clear look of his actual face because it’s pretty clear that his mask has lived on to be his true face after all this time. His age and his injuries do not stop him from doing what he wants to do. At this point in his life, the evil has been inside him for so long that he has no other purpose than being just that. The malicious acts he commits is simply him living up to it. Since we hear him breathe heavily as the credits conclude rolling, which sets up the rest of the trilogy, it furthermore reminds viewers that he is far from a typical human being. Although this villain may be the star, he’s not the only character to leave a mark. We first fell in love with Jamie Lee Curtis when she portrayed the unexpected heroine that was Laurie Strode. While she has played the OG Final Girl in various sequels prior, this performance hits different. This is the perfect example of what happens after the Final Girl survives, their trauma doesn't just disappear. She couldn't move on unless Michael was gone for good, which is why she waited for him. She made a warrior out of her daughter because she refused to lose her like she lost her friends. She took it so hard that she does contemplate on taking her life. It may have taken a toll, but the good intention must not be ignored. The fact that she got to confront her tormentor as she wanted is satisfying because it inspires others to take a stand and confront their tormentors. Because of her strong will, she passed that on to two different generations. The role of Karen is easily my favorite performance of Judy Greer as she has been misused in prior blockbuster roles. She stood out in this role because she presents her as someone who couldn't forgive her mother for not giving her a normal life. She chose to be away from her as long as she could because she didn't want to put up with her mother's trauma that she couldn't understand. But when Michael came back, she had to accept that life does not go as planned. Even though she distanced herself from her past, she never forgot what she was capable of. When she lures Michael by pretending to be unable to pull the trigger until her target comes out, that was just the smartest moment I have ever seen in this series. The second she says 'Gotcha' before she takes the shot gives me chills every time. Andi Matchiak is also great in her breakout performance as Allyson. She has the most relatable role, whereas she is the youngest in the family that wants to break the tension between everyone. She may have not understood Laurie's trauma yet until later, but she didn't want that to stop her from having a relationship with her grandmother. When she does encounter Michael, she does get scared like anyone else, but she eventually becomes headstrong like the women before her. She proves it when she stabs the slasher, saving her mother in the progress. While the night wasn't over for them yet, there is just nothing but relief that they are on the same page. I don't keep track on actor Will Patton, but I easily enjoyed him here as Hawkins. From this movie alone, we understand that he is someone who regrets missing his chance at stopping the terror when he had it, which is further explained in Halloween Kills. Because of this, you can't help but respect his attempt to redeem himself before it was too late. This franchise has said a fair share of unlikable characters that weren't Myers, but the pair of Aaron and Dana take the cake. I understand that there is passion in the subject of true crime, but these two take advantage of it by manipulating the given knowledge. They treat Laurie like a basket case when they know damn well she is not. Jefferson Hall and Rhian Rees succeed in depicting these characters as the most selfish characters we could ever see in this franchise. Because of this, we're not phased when the Boogeyman comes to get them because they have it coming. You ever wondered what Loomis would be like if he defended our antagonist? He'd be a lot like Sartain. Haluk Bilginer definitely fooled me and caught me off guard all at once, going from compassionate to psychotic. It was pretty random of a twist to see him stab Hawkins and set up the reunion, but it luckily doesn't derail the pacing. His death was the most brutal I've ever seen in this franchise to date. I also felt relief that there were characters that eased the tension we consume throughout. I enjoyed Virginia Gardner’s Vicky and Jibrain Nantambu's Julian (the child that the teen babysat) because they seemed to have such genuine chemistry during their time together. It reminded me how close Laurie was with Tommy Doyle in the first film, proving that friendship comes in many shapes and forms. And lastly, I did nothing but chuckle when it came both Officers Richards and Francis, who were honestly played excellently by actor Charlie Benton and makeup designer Christopher Nelson respectively. Their conversation before their demise was the most genuine and the felt fresh seeing cops not being dumbed down in this genre. Although this sequel exceeded my expectations, that didn't mean it had no issues that I noticed. First off, why would Aaron do a recording when driving to Laurie's house? Dana could've done it and we could've gotten the same effect he was going for. Or she could drive while he does the recording. I'm just saying he's making a bad move while driving. One takeaway I had during their interview with Laurie was how Aaron calls Michael a serial killer. Since we're retconning the past sequels, he basically qualifies as a spree killer/mass murderer. I don't care how cool 'serial killer' sounds, know your facts. I know transferring Michael sets the plot in motion, but there really was no point in the first place. There may not be anything left of him to study but if he hasn't escaped after 40 years, than leave him as is so that he doesn't have a chance. Anybody could make up information of tragic incidents to make people feel better, but how does calling Michael and Laurie related create that effect? That just sounds worse and I don't care if you're using this as a callback to the retconned predecessors. I know Michael needs a ride to continue his murder spree, but shouldn't have Lumpy's dad call the police and move along? There's a bunch of mental patients aside from The Shape and either of them could have had attacked since we don't know how insane they are, because we're too focused on the lead slasher. And did Michael even have to kill Lumpy in the first place? The keys were already in ignition when the kid got out of the car, so he could've just take off after killing the father. It is pretty irritating when Sheriff Barker refuses to cancel the holiday, which is the point, but what good reason does he have? If he knows who Myers is, he should've agreed with Hawkins that doing such is completely necessary. I do appreciate it's build up for suspense, but I felt lost on how Julian prefers to go back to his room when he knows damn well Vicky didn't check the room before she died. It would've been a much more intense moment for Vicky to actually do it just as he asked if she did. I know kids are gullible but based on how Julian talks to Vicky, I don't buy it that he'd be that gullible. Also, why does Michael stay at Julian's house if he didn't even try to kill Hawkins? Maybe it were to draw Laurie out, but that only makes sense if they actually are related. There is a big continuity error and it disappoints me that revolves around Laurie. She tells Ray that a revolver doesn't jam, but that is not true. It is false because the cylinder gaps can be blocked, which can prevent a rotation. It bothers me hearing this because she has obviously been prepared to defend herself against the Boogeyman and she messes up on this fact. I won't call her age an excuse because someone with a focus as sharp as hers should not miss this. And lastly, it is pretty bone chilling that Michael makes his way to Laurie's home, but how did he get through the gate? Aaron had to get through one in the opening and Ray didn't press a button that would open it, so what gives? A lot of things have been clear thus far and it's odd how this ain't explained. Other than that, I still enjoy this movie overall. To wrap up, 2018's Halloween is the most entertaining sequel for bringing back the original film's spirit. If you are a fan of this franchise and have deep love for the '78 classic, check this out when you can.
If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Comments